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Apple Working on Multi-Touch Mac?

Benefit of the Doubt

You have to give Apple the benefit of the doubt on any future device. They have had some pretty good instincts. A multi-touch computer would really change a lot about how we interact with our machines. Not only with a keyboard and mouse...but how each software program writes it's software. Imagine Photoshop...everything we do in there would change...menus, filters, commands, views, etc.

I remember Steve Jobs almost purposely postponing video on the iPod, simply because he didn't think everyone (and the technology) was quite ready.

So, I have confidence that whatever they produce has the potential of being groundbreaking. But, an entire multi-touch computer might be a bit early for it's time...I think it would completely change computing, in the long run, but I suppose it has to go step by step.
 
How about this:

macbooktouch.jpg


Only a Multi-Touch input device. No touchscreen, just the input has Multi-Touch.
Imagine what you can do with it....
 
Remember 1985?

For those of you who find the idea of a touch Mac unattractive, I invite you to cast your mind back to 1985 (if indeed you were around in '85).

"I don't need a GUI."
"DOS runs faster."
"The 3.5 inch disks are too small!"

And on it went. Narrow-minded resistance to change.
 
zarusoba said:
Narrow-minded resistance to change.
Click to expand...

Oh so true. People aren't thinking 'where the puck is going to be'.

If there is some sort of Multi-Touch Mac on the horizon, it wont be like any sort of 'laptop' you've come to expect. It won't be a 'typical' pocket sized device - by typical I mean a shrunken laptop with limited functionality because of <-insert any number of reasons here...again Re:blog->.

Multi-Touch is a new platform like the iPod and the Bitmap screen+Mouse before it.

geeez....Think Different already :apple:

Z
 
multi touch will not replace the mouse and keyboard yet or for a long time for that matter imho

i think your spot on when you look at the new finder in 10.5 multi touch will be used for things like that, the dock and scrolling in safari etc .

it's a "quicker", "simpler" way of doing things and we all know thats what apples about.

imagine tapping the safari icon in the dock hitting your fav tab and then flicking down the screen to read the page.

or tapping mail and hitting your email to open it
 
kontheur said:
How about this:

[Removed Image]

Only a Multi-Touch input device. No touchscreen, just the input has Multi-Touch.
Imagine what you can do with it....
Click to expand...

That looks great - saw something similar on a back page of iCreate last year and the keyboard area changed based on requirement i.e for Photoshop you had all of your pallettes and tools, Garageband - well, up pops a touch sensitive midi keyboard or set of drums ! - how about touch sensitive mixing controls for music or video editing..............perhaps 'Spaces' could go dual screen when you needed it too...............I think if delivered the right way, the list could be endless and the benefits, real.
 
C'mon creative Apple type people, let's have some imagination. It seems many people are focused on the kind of computers they currently use. Think outside that box, whether it's a nice aluminium one, a white plastic one, or a towerful one.

I agree that for everday, all-day work it's going to be hard to beat a keyboard and mouse, and waving your arms at a vertical screen all day is plain daft. The laptop mock up posted was nice, but I'm not convinced a perfectly servicable keyboard needs to be replaced.

To those who say touch is not new and hasn't caught on, well, I think you're right and wrong. The new factor is not touch but rather the effective implementation of multitouch, including the on-screen keyboard.

I think we're missing the possibilities of this new tech. Here's bit of something I posted on another forum. Run with it and see how many uses you can come up with for this ubiquitous bit of home/travel kit.

--

A new breed of portable computer that's not laptop, nor a phone, and definitely not a Newton. Take the touchscreen tech and give me something with, say, a 5, 7 or 10 inch screen that's sleek like the iPhone. I will use this on my lap to surf in whatever room I find myself. I can slap it on the wall in the kitchen and pull up a recipe, or find something cool to watch on Joost, or call up my iTunes library to catch up on a show I've AppleTVed from EyeTV, or just listen to tunes whilst cooking.

Yes, it will run Mac OS X, it won't sync but will actually network with Mail on my iMac so I can mail whilst half watching that half interesting TV show. I'll use the on-screen keyboard for this, which will be nicer than the iPhone's simply because it will be larger and more suitable for man-thumbs.

I'll read eBooks on it too, with a great touch interface where I turn a page by flicking the corner and the page will be seen to turn. I'll be able to add notes, look up words in the dictionary, place book marks, etc.

Bung a forward facing camera on it and I can vid-iChat with the kids upstairs when dinner is ready, or with my parents, without having to sit at my desk.

And lo, the MacTouch is born. (or tMac?)

A small version of the MacTouch will make a great travel computer for when I don't need all the functionality of a laptop. It'll need suitable ports to enable me to upload the day's photos or video. A big enough drive to store this. The ability to write a blog so folks back home will know what I'm up to, and that eBook reader again so I'll have plenty to keep me occupied on those days that need to be killed, the days when the adventure just can't happen. Email and Web and WiFi? Goes without saying, doesn't it?

Let my MacTouch interface to my AppleTV so I don't need to switch on my energy-sucking, planet-warming flatscreen TV just to play a CD through my HiFi.

Now, make my AppleTV a decent, fully featured media centre which networks my centrally stored media library to all my devices, whether iMac, MacBook or MacTouch ...
 
carlitofox said:
imagine tapping the safari icon in the dock hitting your fav tab and then flicking down the screen to read the page.
Click to expand...

You just described what you already do on iPhone or iPod touch, but less dock. It's reserved for 'core' applications for the device (like Phone, Music etc)....

When i say 'Multi-Touch' i mean the platform as a whole, not just the input mechanism. If you like, it's the Multi-touch 'version' of OS X that makes it work. Making the interface work, then layering the hardware on top of that make it do-able.

So this thing wont have your 'typical' OS X desktop, it's a Multi-touch Mac.
Z

edit: I forgot to touch on the usability thing people are harping on...you use your iPod to carry part of your iTunes library around with you but you don't manage your library on your iPod. This would be the same thing for your Mac.

It's NOT a replacement for a laptop, its a totally different device. I put it in the hole between and iPhone and Macbook.
 
I am filled with anticipation, and it is most delicious

Maybe we'll see a Mac ad where Mac is dressed up in black tights and round glasses like Dieter from Sprockets, and he says to PC;

"Vould you like to touch my MacBook? Touch him! Love him! Berühre meinen Affen. Liebe meinen Affen-MacBook! PC, your agony is gorgeous, vould you like to strike me?"

The anticipation pulls down my pants and taunts me. :cool:
 
vga4life said:
by and large I expect to still be typing on a physical keyboard and using a pointing device abstracted from the 1:1 scale of the display in 10 years
Click to expand...

I'm sure the same was said about using punch cards back in the day... :p ;)

vga4life said:
moving your whole arm and hand around a screen for an 8 or 12 hour workday to manipulate a cursor is exhausting.
Click to expand...

No no, it's called a workout! Now instead of going to the gym to work out for an hour every day, I could perhaps free up some extra time since I'd be exercising while I worked. After all it, is is called "work"! ;) :cool:
 
My idea:

The device will be about the size of a piece of letter paper (maybe 8x10"). It will be a touchscreen only, with no physical keyboard, similar to the iPod touch and iPhone. It will run a full version of Leopard, but with special touchscreen features like a pop-up keyboard (a la Touch and iPhone). It will have an iPod style port at the bottom and one USB port.

Included will be a special dock that will hold the device at an angle (similar to the angle of an open laptop screen). The dock will have an extra USB port, allowing you to connect a keyboard and mouse, and a network plug. Along with Wi-fi, the device will have Bluetooth so that you can use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

So essentially you could set it up on your desk like a small laptop and do "real" productive typing / mouse related tasks, and when you are on the go you can handle everything via touchscreen.

What do you think?
 
rockstarjoe said:
My idea:

So essentially you could set it up on your desk like a small laptop and do "real" productive typing / mouse related tasks, and when you are on the go you can handle everything via touchscreen.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I think I like. That would make for an interesting compromise device.
 
Nah! This thread is too long to read, but I think I could say some things.

I don't understand why people say it's impractical to use a computer with your hands and arms. It seems these people never eat, never reach for a cup of coffee on the corner of the table, never turn off the alarm clock... Oh, no! I don't want to stretch my arms to do everyday tasks! I have a keyboard and a mouse that I could use!

Remember: the desktop metaphor, invented at the Xerox PARC and perfected at Apple, has to evolve.

Computers emulate everyday tasks, like organizing documents in folders, typing (or writing, with a pen) letters and other documents, sorting through these documents, piling these documents at the corner of your desk for future reference, using appliances that sit on your desk, and other things. Just to give an example, my calculator is used more often than the damn Dashboard widget, because it feels more natural to me.

Unless you are a casino dealer, you touch stuff with your hands! I don't use a mouse to sort through my wardrobe to choose my clothes.

If you could use a computer in the same way you manipulate real life objects, it would be much more straight-forward! The desktop metaphor would be even more obvious. It would finally make a computer look and feel like the real thing.

Kicking away the keyboard and mouse, the dream envisioned by Steve Jobs would finally come true: the computer would look like an appliance, in just one piece. He always went for the all-in-one design because he understands it's harder for people to conceive something that's made from several distinct parts.

And, for those that would argue that a multi-touch interface would be impractical for drawing, just use a stylus.

I belive the final Apple product would be better than Jeff Han's experiments and WAY MUCH better than any crappy "table" Microsoft can come up with.

But maybe it's just the way I see things...


Cheers,
_iCeb0x_
 
lazyrighteye said:
+1
Click to expand...

Clearly....nothing is clear. This is a rumors site after all. Touch may have its place on certain devices, however I do not believe it is a practical technology to incorporate into larger devices. As far as coverflow...Apple tested this software in iTunes long before Leopard was out. I don't see any correlation between this and a touch interface. I don't think cover flow was built specifically for touch interfaces. While coverflow is kinda neat to view pictures, normal document viewing sucks in my opinion. I've got a 19 inch monitor, and I have to make my Finder window HUGE to see what in the world the document is.

I'm not sure why tons of people on here are so excited and willing to drop hard earned cash whenever Apple introduces something new. Especially a nonexistant touch interface laptop. I can see that working out real well on your next plane ride. "Oops, excuse me, oops excuse me" as you keep hitting the person next to you because you have to raise your entire arm to move some documents around in the Finder....

If we are talking PURE efficiency, the trackpad/keyboard is it...think about it. Even on a desktop system, to move the pointer all the way from one corner of the screen to another, you have to move a single finger (trackpad) or your hand for a desktop machine, maybe 1 inch at the most. With a touch screen, guess what, that 20 inch screen means that you have to move your entire arm 20 inches across the screen.

zarusoba said:
For those of you who find the idea of a touch Mac unattractive, I invite you to cast your mind back to 1985 (if indeed you were around in '85).

"I don't need a GUI."
"DOS runs faster."
"The 3.5 inch disks are too small!"

And on it went. Narrow-minded resistance to change.
Click to expand...

I like your personal insults to justify a technology most people don't need.

On top of everything else I've said about how frivolous all this is, what about all those nasty finger print marks that having a touch screen leaves.

Even if Apple releases a touch screen Mac...lord knows I've got better things to spend my money on.

_iCeb0x_ said:
Nah! This thread is too long to read, but I think I could say some things.

I don't understand why people say it's impractical to use a computer with your hands and arms. It seems these people never eat, never reach for a cup of coffee on the corner of the table, never turn off the alarm clock... Oh, no! I don't want to stretch my arms to do everyday tasks! I have a keyboard and a mouse that I could use!

Remember: the desktop metaphor, invented at the Xerox PARC and perfected at Apple, has to evolve.

Computers emulate everyday tasks, like organizing documents in folders, typing (or writing, with a pen) letters and other documents, sorting through these documents, piling these documents at the corner of your desk for future reference, using appliances that sit on your desk, and other things. Just to give an example, my calculator is used more often than the damn Dashboard widget, because it feels more natural to me.

Unless you are a casino dealer, you touch stuff with your hands! I don't use a mouse to sort through my wardrobe to choose my clothes.

If you could use a computer in the same way you manipulate real life objects, it would be much more straight-forward! The desktop metaphor would be even more obvious. It would finally make a computer look and feel like the real thing.

Kicking away the keyboard and mouse, the dream envisioned by Steve Jobs would finally come true: the computer would look like an appliance, in just one piece. He always went for the all-in-one design because he understands it's harder for people to conceive something that's made from several distinct parts.

And, for those that would argue that a multi-touch interface would be impractical for drawing, just use a stylus.

I belive the final Apple product would be better than Jeff Han's experiments and WAY MUCH better than any crappy "table" Microsoft can come up with.

But maybe it's just the way I see things...


Cheers,
_iCeb0x_
Click to expand...



Uhhh....machines are supposed to make our lives easier. What don't you understand about that? I think there are other areas that computers could benefit from before useless touch screen technology. Things like, developing AI for one. An operating system that actually KNOWS what its doing (and please, I'll vomit if anyone claims that OS X already does know what its doing. Software/hardware is stupid, it has NO CLUE what is going on). How about we get Mr. Jobs's team on that. As far as reaching for coffee etc, yeah, so, we want to add more things we do physically? (I run 6.5 miles a day, so don't give me crap about physical activity). I have an idea, lets expand repetitive motion injuries from just our fingers and wrists to elbows and shoulders because we now have to move our whole arm to move a damned document. Okay, you all buy this crap if it actually comes out, but I'll stick to my mouse and keyboard. Lame lame lame.

By the way, heres a touch kit for Macs already out there. ....


http://trolltouch.com/
 
ckurowic said:
Uhhh....machines are supposed to make our lives easier. What don't you understand about that? I think there are other areas that computers could benefit from before useless touch screen technology. Things like, developing AI for one. An operating system that actually KNOWS what its doing (and please, I'll vomit if anyone claims that OS X already does know what its doing. Software/hardware is stupid, it has NO CLUE what is going on). How about we get Mr. Jobs's team on that. As far as reaching for coffee etc, yeah, so, we want to add more things we do physically? (I run 6.5 miles a day, so don't give me crap about physical activity). I have an idea, lets expand repetitive motion injuries from just our fingers and wrists to elbows and shoulders because we now have to move our whole arm to move a damned document. Okay, you all buy this crap if it actually comes out, but I'll stick to my mouse and keyboard. Lame lame lame.
Click to expand...

Well... I get your point. I now people that prefer using the command line for some tasks... And the user should decide which is the best interface and which one he'll use.

I think you got some things wrong, like the personal part. No one in the Earth could know you run, swim or lift weights by looking at this forum. I go to the gym everyday but, thank God, it doesn't matter.

I already expressed my personal opinion about the touch interface. The only thing I could add is that I think it's a viable product idea, that would appeal to the average computer user, of course, if well implemented. And its taking into account the very purpose of a machine: making life easier. I believe keyboard and mice are not the best ways to make computer user's lifes easier.

About RMI, did you know that people that type on high desks (or low chairs), have more problems because they tend to keep their shoulders under stress? The problem is not only about what you move, but also the stress you put on certain parts of the body, even if you don't move exactly that part.

Just to put and end to this, before it turn into trolling and flaming, I am not trying to convince you to buy anything. And I hope you're not trying to convince me that I am plain wrong. It's a matter of opinion.
 
Why do so many of you get bent out of shape at the notion that Apple may produce a multi-touch tablet or Mac? Apple is no longer a computer/iPod company only, they are becoming much more.

Apple is slowly becoming a 'consumer electronics' company not just a pc, laptop and ipod company. They drop 'Computer' from their name and broaden the product family outside of computers with AppleTV and the iPhone. They've ventured out into online music and video content delivery (iTunes) with video rentals likely to follow soon. They are working with automotive companies and designing automotive user interfaces. This is no longer your father's Apple Computer company, they are becoming a full-fledged consumer electronics provider.

This means that you will continue to see Apple produce an even wider variety of 'consumer electronics' devices for many different markets, some mainstream (like pc & mobile phones) and some niche (possibly like the tablet market).

I know a touch Mac or tablet makes no sense to some of you, which means you are not the intended audience. For others, this is 'exactly' what they have been waiting for. I like what Apple is becoming because it means we will have an even wider variety of Apple products and appliances to choose from. Apple is becoming the next General Electric.

You heard it here first (at least I think I'm first...somebody Google that to make sure) and that's my $.02 .
 
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